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Friday, March 30, 2012

Mr. Mom -- Day #11

As days go, this one wasn't too bad.

Lots of excitement as Grandma Miles was coming for a visit today. The morning started off pretty normally -- everything was smooth sailing getting ready for school. Thomas asked endless questions about when we would be going to get Grandma, which I think finally sank in.

After lunch, I took Thomas to school, came home, got a workout and shower in, and then prepared for a higher pitch balance of the day. First I picked up Thomas, then the twins. Sarah had a pajama day at school today, so she changed clothes in the car, and we headed to the airport. Grandma arrived without incident. Then it was off to El Bees for dinner.

Now El Bees is a very nice Mexican restaurant, but it isn't the kid's favorite. Yet they went along with the plan without significant complaint. After dinner, we went to the high school play (Captain Fantastic), and then home.

That's when the trouble, what little there was, began. I had a tough time getting them ready for bed. Understandable, given the break in the schedule and the visitor. My plan for the evening was to read to all three kids, and put all three to bed at the same time -- a strategy we use when the kids are going to bed late.

Didn't work tonight. Not well at all.

The first skirmish was over where kids would sit during reading the story. Then Thomas grabbed a stupid McDonalds toy and rushed over and dropped it in his toybox. Sarah immediately decided it was hers, and was scrounging around in Thomas' toy box while he balled, and I shouted progressively louder for her to stop and come back. Finally, I had to physically go over and retrieve her. I then managed to read Thomas' choice of stories, which Sarah consistently insisted on referring to as a "baby story." Finally, after much goading, he responded by saying he didn't want to listen to the twins' story.

We never got to their story. Sarah and Candace both next started a campaign in favor of me just tucking them in and leaving the room -- promising they would just go to sleep.

Now I wasn't born yesterday -- and after close to a thousand nights of "twin parenting" under our collective belts, experience indicated to me that: (1.) the twins will take advantage of any opportunity like that to misbehave, and (2.) the fact they were so insistent that it had to happen tonight, meant they had something they were planning.

So needless to say, I said "no." (which, according to those in the know, is my favorite word). That resulted in another argument which had me putting the books down and the kids in bed right then.

So, a relatively smooth day ending in bedtime controversy. It sure seems like I've seen this particular play a few hundred times.